Supplier Spotlight - Bespoke Bridal Wear from Lottie-Emile

I first discovered Charlotte when she saw my blog about my AntiBride photo shoot last year.  She is a dream come true for any bride looking for something unique and personal to them, designing and making bespoke wedding gowns, creating everything with her own hands.  She has an infectious enthusiasm for design and I love her motto "More is More!"

"I love Ruby’s idea of the Anti-bride, a girl who wants to be herself when she walks down the aisle, many brides who I make for actually feel unsure that white suits them. In fact, the idea of a white wedding dress worn to be married in was not popular until Queen Victoria married Prince Albert in 1840. Before this date, blue amongst other colours, was popular choice.

So why not choose a bright coloured dress for you wedding gown, dare I say it? You could wear it again! But let’s not get into bridesmaid territory! You can still stand out wearing a coloured dress instead of white on your wedding day.

I have a motto that I use, and that is ‘More is more!’ When designing a dress, I like to make a dazzling sensory overload of bright and clashing colours and crunchy and sparkling textures. Mixing and layering lace and flowers, beads, vintage jewellery and sequins. I like to hide details, special things to be discovered, things that only the bride knows about. I love this idea of such extravagance that jewels can be hidden amongst the layers of the dress.

For me, I have to feel like every bead, every stitch, is positioned to be show its best and to be special, it must look beautiful as part of the whole, but also stand out in it’s own beauty.  Some people like to have one special detail that stands out, a pair of shoes (like my gold, silver and pink studded stilettos), or a sparkling belt - but why not have it all, or at least all that you want!

I love a bride who can’t make up her mind about what details she wants to incorporate into her design, because then I get to say “Let’s just use them all!!”

You can’t deny however, that my brides here look fantastic in white! They have chosen other bold elements for the wow factor. Daring Linnea wanted to go super-mini in her 60’s styled swing dress, using 100 metres of tulle alone in the skirt!

For Amber, we used beautiful french chiffon, cut up her Mother’s vintage Edwardian embroidered veil (eeek), which she had worn for her own wedding. I embellished it with multi-silver tones of Swarovski which gave a very much stated, vintage sparkle.

And for Laura, I made a beautiful 50’s style corset and Dior inspired tulle skirt, complete with giant bow at the back. All over the bust, I painstakingly cut out hundred of petal templates, paired them all up, and embroidered them one by one, with tiny glass bead clusters in the centre of each one. But it was worth it, Laura looked amazing!

I am creating a collection, but it’s mostly to display what I can do with my various techniques and talents, and to provide a little inspiration for my brides.  A bridal gown is a special purchase, a once in a lifetime, and I don’t think I’ll ever depart from designing bespoke bridal dresses. I get a huge sense of satisfaction to know that one of my brides has an absolutely unique dress, to which they have collaborated on in its design. A wedding gown is almost an imprint in time of the bride and her wedding day, memory, good times, feelings, her style, her dress size."

For more fabulousness and inspiration check out Charlotte's website.  Watch this space for a future special feature on the bespoke design process - how exciting!!!

Lots of love, glitter & sparkles